Heroes
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: Danny and Aiden look back on September 11 2001 and contemplate what and who they lost. Danny/Aiden friendship in remembrance of those who died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.


**I really do not know what to say. It is September Eleventh again. I wrote this story to remember and honor those who died and I hope it serves its purpose. Enjoy.**

**Spoilers: None.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI NY or the song which is "Where Were You?" By Alan Jackson.  
**

**Dedication: To all those who died and to all those who still miss them…**

_"Did you burst out with pride for the red, white, and blue and the heroes who died just doing what they do?"_

September 11 2003**  
**

"Danny, Danny," Aiden said exasperatedly, "Danny!"

"Sorry what were you saying?" he asked a little vaguely turning back to her.

"I was asking you about the fingerprints on this case," Aiden told him. She had asked him three times before she had finale decided he was not listening.

"Oh," Danny replied with a shake of the head, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Not until you tell me what's bugging you," she told him flatly, turning to face him.

"You almost make that sound diplomatic," Danny muttered under his breath.

"Danny," Aiden said annoyed. She was not really in the mood to be diplomatic today. She just wanted answers.

"We have a case to be working on," Danny told her knowing that it would not get her to stop asking, but it might stall her for a while.

"It's a cold case," Aiden reminded him slamming the folder down on the table, "It's been a cold case for fifteen freaking years." That got Danny's attention.

"Then why are we working on it?" Danny asked.

"Why do you think we are working on it?" Aiden demanded.

"Because it's," Danny started, but then he looked around the room and closed his mouth.

"You are allowed to say that it is nine eleven," Aiden told him flatly, "Mac is not in the building."

"How did that happen?" Danny asked a little curiously. As far as he knew Mac had only ever missed one day of work, and that was the day right after his wife's death…the day right after nine eleven.

"Stella put him on vacation and then refused to let him in the building," Aiden replied with no hint of humor, "I think she took the day off to watch him."

"Maybe she has the right idea," Danny replied looking at Aiden, "Want to go for a walk?"

"We have a cold case," she told him pointing to the folder.

"Aiden," Danny reminded her, "That case has been cold for, as you so elegantly phrased it, 'fifteen freaking years,' I think it can wait another two hours."

"Alright," Aiden agreed picking her jacket up off the chair. Together they walked out of the crime lab and into the light of the September sun. Soon they passed a coffee cart and Danny bought one for each of them. For a while they walked in silence drinking the hot liquid. Danny was the first to break the silence.

"It does not seem like two years," he remarked quietly.

"I know," Aiden agreed pulling her jacket a little tighter, "It feels like so little time has passed here…I can still remember it like it was yesterday…"

"Me too," Danny said looking up at the sky. There was a pause. He did not ask her where she had been. He did not need to…

FLASHBACK—9/11/01

"What do you think of the—" Aiden asked holding out the file to Danny, but she was interrupted by a scream. The file fell to the floor as both Danny and Aiden ran into the hallway to see had happened.

Stella was standing at the window with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide. A group of lab techs were hanging back and also watching the scene unfolding outside the window. Danny and Aiden walked forward to stand beside Stella.

"What happened?" Aiden asked her eye fixated on black plumes of smoke filling the New York sky.

"A plane hit the North Tower," Stella replied her voice surprisingly calm.

"Oh God," Aiden said shocked, "Oh God."

"It's on fire but it sounds like they've rolled every fire engine south of Broadway," Stella replied.

"Where's Mac?" Aiden asked immediately, "Doesn't Claire work in the World Trade Center?"

"Yes," Stella replied, "But she works in the South Tower. She should be okay. I should probably remind Mac of that…" Without another word Stella turned and took off down the hall in search of her partner. Danny and Aiden were left standing at the window. After several minutes Aiden switched the TV on and turned it to a local new channel…just in time to see another plane crash into the South Tower.

END FLASHBACK

They had no way to know then if Claire had gotten out alive, though they learned later that she had not. However they did watch as NYPD and FDNY attempt to help with the evacuations knowing that some of their friends might be in there, but again they had no way to know.

"It could have been us," Danny remarked knowing that Aiden would know what he meant.

"In some ways it was," Aiden replied, "Everybody in New York lost someone or something." There was a pause. "Who was yours?"

"Phineas Mitchell." Danny replied. "He is the reason that I graduated the Academy. I could never have done it without his help. He was called to help people get out of the North Tower, but he got out before it came down. The same on the South Tower." Aiden was smart enough not to interrupt him because she knew this story was about to take a turn for the worst. "We called him Lucky Finny because he escaped without a scratch on him…" Danny laughed bitterly, "He died six months later of a lung complication from inhaling all the crap in the air. He was three weeks short of his wedding."

Aiden did not say anything. There was nothing that could be said. So instead she laid her hand on his shoulder. Danny placed his hand on top of hers and gave her an attempt at a smile.

"What about you?" Danny asked his partner.

"Olivia Taffit," Aiden told him. Her voice held no emotion in it. "She was my best friend in high school and college. We drifted apart after that because I went to the crime lab, and she didn't. We still talked every week for five years. Then it became less and less often because we were both so busy at work. The last time I talked to her was six months before the attacks."

"I always told myself I would call her tomorrow," Aiden remembered bitterly, "And I just never did. Hell, I did not even know she had died in the towers until her husband called me two weeks later to tell me they had recovered her body and badge. She had a eight year old daughter." Aiden paused again.

"At the funeral, the little girl, Hannah, she came up to me asked me why I wasn't in the Towers too," Aiden told him, "She had wanted to know why her mother had died and I hadn't."

"I don't know," Danny told her honestly, "And we never will, but every day we wake up and come into work we know that there is a chance we be killed."

"That is part of the cost of keeping our city safe," Aiden agreed, "And I guess you're right. Any day of the week any one of us could be killed, and that day there were a lot of us. But I don't know a cop that would refuse to go it if given a second chance."

They stopped walking and looked across the Hudson River. They could see people gathering around Ground Zero. People who had lost mother, fathers, sister, brother, and friends and still mourned that loss. However Danny and Aiden knew that somewhere out there were dozens of families who were not in mourning today because the efforts of the police officers and firefighters had saved their loved ones.

"No," Danny replied, "I don't know one either.

_**I hope you liked it. Please Review. **_


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